Hearts and Claws
by DiscordantPrincess
Summary: It's Hearts and Hooves Day, and Spike is dealing with jealousy because of Rarity and Ratigan. Can he get over it? One-shot.


**Me: Hey, everypony! Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so I decided to post a special Hearts and Hooves Day-centric entry to my "Ratti in Ponyville" series. It's going to be really good, right, Big Macintosh?**

**Big Mac: Eeyup.**

**Me: Thanks, Big Mac! (brohoof) This story is dedicated to my good friends Cellenia (who gave me the idea for the story), FairyTales And Pixie Dust and ShiningShadow1965. Hope you all enjoy!**

It was Hearts and Hooves Day in the town of Ponyville. At the town library, Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail with pink and purple streaks, purple eyes and a cutie mark of magic sparkles was reading a book about the history of the holiday, ripping out a page.

"I STILL can't believe that they would put a recipe for a love poison in this book!" Twilight groaned. "It's a good thing that the girls were able to reverse the spell before Cheerilee and Big Macintosh were stuck in a love daze forever, huh, Spike?" She turned to see her assistant, a baby dragon with purple scales, green spikes, a pale green underbelly and green eyes, sitting in his basket bed morosely. "Spike?"

"Huh?" Spike looked up at the pony. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I didn't hear you."

"I said; it was a good thing Cheerilee and Big Mac weren't stuck in a love daze forever, right?" Twilight repeated.

"Yeah," Spike responded crossly. "But at least they would have HAD somepony!"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked. Then, she got the dragon's key. "Oh, I see…you're upset because of Rarity, aren't you?"

Rarity was a friend of Twilight's, a lovely white unicorn with a coiffed purple mane and tail, blue eyes and a cutie mark of three diamonds. Spike had a humongous crush on the fashionable pony. However, she was dating Padraic Ratigan, a gray earth pony with a neat black mane and tail, gold eyes and a cutie mark of a pi symbol.

"Yeah, a little bit," Spike admitted. "I mean, I met Rarity first! And besides, what's so special about Padraic that she wants to be with HIM over ME?"

"Well, the fact that he's a PONY and you're a DRAGON certainly helps," Twilight replied. "Plus he's VERY smart, and talented, and kind, and strong, and handsome…"

"Gee, Twi, thanks for making me feel better," Spike grumbled sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Besides, you're just a BABY dragon, and Padraic is an adult," Twilight added. She smiled at the grumpy little dragon. "Look, Spike, I understand how you're feeling. Remember, I had a crush on Padraic when I was a filly, and I was a little jealous when Rarity started dating him. But I got over it, because I know that they're happy together, and that made ME happy. And if you're REALLY Rarity's friend…which I know that you are…then you'll get over it and be happy for them, too."

"I guess so," Spike sighed.

Twilight frowned as she thought. "You know, Spike, I'm just going to be working on reshelving today, so if you want to go out and have fun downtown, you're more than welcome to. Maybe that'll get your mind off of your hurt feelings."

"Maybe, but I doubt it," Spike replied. He got up out of the basket and started down the stairs into the main room. "Thanks, Twilight. I'll see you tonight for dinner." With that, he left.

* * *

Spike wandered downtown to see how the rest of his friends were doing. Rainbow Dash was fixing the clouds into heart shapes. Pinkie Pie was delivering red and pink baked goods to everypony in town. Applejack was selling heart-shaped apple pies at her farm stand. Fluttershy was teaching the birds to sing a sweet little song. Everypony seemed happy. Everypony except him.

As he was walking, distracted by his sadness, he bumped into somepony, literally. "OH! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" He looked up to see that the pony that he had bumped into was Ratigan. "Oh. Hi, Padraic."

"Hello, Spike," Ratigan responded pleasantly. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Yeah, great," Spike replied flatly. Then, he peered to see that Ratigan had his saddlebag on. "What's in your bag?"

"Oh, just a few things for Rarity for today." Ratigan pulled them out as he mentioned them. "One dozen long-stemmed red roses, a box of gourmet chocolates, and these ocean sapphires that I collected during my last conference in Manehattan. I thought that she could use them in some of her fashions. What do you think? Will she like them?"

Spike gazed at the bag of sapphires and drooled. The little dragon loved eating gems. "I'll bet she'll LOVE them!" He shook his head to snap out of his daze. "Uh, I mean, they're OK."

"So how about YOU, my fine young dragon? Do YOU have any special plans for today?"

"No, I don't, thanks for asking," Spike answered tersely. He turned his back to the pony.

Ratigan frowned at the dragon's rudeness, then smiled. "Oh, I see what's going on here. You're jealous of me because I'm dating Rarity, aren't you?"

Spike snorted. "No, I am not JEALOUS." Ratigan gave him a knowing smile. "OK, maybe I'm a LITTLE jealous. It's just…I've liked Rarity ever since Twilight and I moved here from Canterlot, and I've never even gotten CLOSE to getting a date with her! And then she meets you at the Grand Galloping Gala, and within one night she's head over hooves in love with you! It's just not fair! What do YOU have that I DON'T?"

"Well for starters, I've got several years on you," Ratigan replied.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Spike's a BABY dragon, I've heard it all before," Spike groaned.

"But being a baby dragon isn't necessarily a BAD thing," Ratigan told him. "It just means that you've got some time before you grow up to see where your life takes you." Spike still looked sad. "You know, Spike, just because Rarity doesn't love you in a romantic way doesn't mean that she doesn't love you at all. She loves you as a dear friend. A romance with her just isn't in the cards. But one day, when you're an adult, you'll meet a nice lady dragon and you two will hit it off spectacularly, and you'll be very happy together."

Spike looked up at the pony with big eyes. "You really think so?"

"I do indeed."

Spike smiled. "Thanks, Padraic. You're a great pal." He hugged the pony, who smiled and hugged him back.

Suddenly, Spike's stomach rumbled, making the little dragon blush sheepishly. "It sounds like you could use a little snack," Ratigan commented. "Here." He took a sapphire out of his bag and gave it to Spike. "Enjoy. I'm sure Rarity wouldn't mind me giving one of these to you."

"Wow, thanks!" Spike responded. He shoved it into his mouth and chewed it up, then swallowed. "I'll see you later, OK?"

"OK. Happy Hearts and Hooves Day."

"You, too! Hope you and Rarity have a nice night together!" They parted ways. Spike smiled happily. He felt better knowing that even though he could never be with Rarity, he could be friends with both her and her coltfriend, who he had decided was a lot cooler and nicer than he had initially given him credit for. Things were good for the little dragon.

**Aww! OK, show of hands, who wants to huggle Spike here? Well, I know I do! (huggles Spikey Wikey) Yeah, jealousy sucks.**

**I know I already sort of did this kind of story back in my story "Twilight's Professor," where Twilight deals with her jealousy of the Rarigan coupling (yeah, that's my couple name for them) because she had a crush on Ratigan, but I thought I'd try it again from the dragon's mouth...perfect timing for Valentine's Day, huh?**

**Thanks for reading! Please R&R!**

**All my best, DiscordantPrincess.**


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